Spring photos

Last week Roxy had her spring break, and I took a vacation just to spend some time with her. We walked around the city and in the vicinity a lot and visited countryside, where the spring is now in full bloom. Here are some pictures from the trips for your enjoyment, more coming later.

The seemingly unassuming village of Taronik in Armavir province has at least two things to boast about - a wonderful archaeological museum and site and... lots and lots of storks. The village is teeming with them, there is a nest on every other phone pole and roof. The storks seem to be quite happy there, and not too afraid of humans. We watched from the hill how a little noisy tractor was tilling earth down in the valley. To our surprise, every time the line was finished and the tractor made a u-turn, flocks of storks would descend on the newly tilled earth, completely disregarding the noise and the human presence. My guess is, they were after the insects that were exposed by tilling.

Here is a view from the top of the hill in Taronik. On the foreground you can see the archeological site - apparently, there were human habitations on this hill from 5th millennium BC on! In the background you may detect the silhouette of Armenia's one and only Nuclear Power Plant - four ominously large grey chimneys.

Here are the storks flying against the typical almost rainy April sky...

...and a couple in a nest. Now is the time of nest-building, I don't think they laid the eggs yet. It was funny to watch them "discuss" where to put the twigs, pieces of wood and other "building blocks" the male kept carrying in. The storks don't have vocal chords, so the only sounds they make is clicking those enormous beaks and gargling.